Herculaneum VII.16. Side doorway into Basilica Noniana, also known as
Galleria Balbi.

Date of
excavation 1960-62.

Guidobaldi
wrote that at the extreme north of Cardo III, opposite the rear entrance of the
Seat of the Augustale, was a public building which it has been perhaps possible
to identify as the civic basilica, constructed in the Augustan age by Senator
M. Nonio Balbo and recorded in a wax tablet of 61 AD, as Basilica Noniana.

The
building had been explored by tunnels in the Bourbon age and drawn by Bardet
and Bellicard, it was shown as a large rectangular room with side walls marked
with a double order of semi-columns in opus vittatum
covered with white fluted stucco and surmounted by Ionic capitals in the lower
order and Corinthian in the upper order.

Then
at the beginning of the 1960’s the eastern wall had been brought out into the
open. In this wall was the side entrance onto Cardo III Superiore, and a small
service room, probably used as a waiting room to access the south end of the
Basilica. Found in this Basilica were the many statues of M. Nonio Balbo and
his family, now in Naples Archaeological Museum.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2016. Head of an amazon, from Basilica Noniana, now in
Herculaneum Deposits.

Photo
courtesy of Michael Binns.

Found
inside the building during the winter of 2006, whilst moving back the face of
the western escarpment, was the marble head of an Amazon, which still preserved
the remains of reddish-brown hair and eyes, the latter painted accurately.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Side doorway into Basilica Noniana on west side of
Cardo III.

Only
the eastern perimeter wall has so far been brought to light together with two
side doorways.

According
to Cooley,

“He
was a generous benefactor to Herculaneum, and in return received at least a
dozen statues during his lifetime, as well as outstanding public honours after
his death. The Basilica Noniana which he gave to the town and which included a
statue gallery of his family, continued to be named after him, appearing on a
wax tablet of AD 61. Until recently there has been confusion over his statue
types.

Two
portrait types of Nonius Balbus, one depicting a youth and the other a mature
man, have tended to be labelled as the proconsul himself and his son, but
recent detective work in the archives and on site now shows clearly that all
the known portraits are of a single individual, the proconsul, but that
unusually he was represented in both youthful and mature styles.”

“It
is not known when Balbus, a native of Nuceria, decided to live in Herculaneum,
nor why.

However,
he must have put down roots there before the middle of the first century A.D,
if the dating of the statue of his father is correct, and if a statue of a
maiden does indeed portray his daughter.

The
fact that the city erected statues of members of his family in public places is
ample evidence of his services to his adopted city and to the esteem he enjoyed
there.

We
know of no other individual in Herculaneum nor in Pompeii who went further in
an administrative career.

Marcus
Nonius Balbus was praetor and then proconsul of Crete and Cyrenaica, and so had
first-hand acquaintance not only with the capital but also with distant provinces
of the far-flung Empire, where inscriptions have survived in which the grateful
communities saluted him as their benefactor.

Herculaneum
too, had much to thank him for, as is clear in the unusual decree in which the
city council paid homage to him after his death.”

See Kraus T. and von Matt L., 1975. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Living cities of the dead. New
York: Abrams, (p.122)

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Excavation tunnel.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking west into excavation tunnel.

Photo
courtesy of Michael Binns.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking west in north-west corner of site.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking west in north-west corner of site.

VII.16
Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking west in north-west corner of site.

Statues
which may have come from the Basilica

Many
of the statue said to be from this Basilica may in fact have come from the
theatre or vice-versa.

According
to Kraus,

“Just
which statues adorned the Basilica is difficult to say, since in so many cases
the findings were simply lumped together with those from the Theatre”.

“Likewise unknown is the precise disposition of the
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Nonius Balbus, the most respected and influential
citizen of Herculaneum, and the full length figures of his family”.

See Kraus T. and von Matt L., 1975. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Living cities of the dead. New
York: Abrams, (p.120).

VII.16
Herculaneum. May 2010. Statue of M. Nonius Balbus.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6167.

This
statue was associated with the base inscription CIL X, 1428.

M(arco) Nonio M(arci) f(ilio) Balbo

pr(aetori) proco(n)s(uli)

d(ecreto) d(ecurionum)[CIL X 1428]

According
to Cooley and Cooley this reads as

To
Marcus Nonius Balbus, son of Marcus, praetor, proconsul, by decree of the town
councillors.

According to the information board
in the Palazzo Reale at Portici in 2015, the statue was found in 1746 and was
in pieces and headless.

The sculpture was believed to
depict Balbus the Younger’s father.

Hence, during restoration, Canart
made a head for it after a portrait certainly showing Balbus senior, in
compliance with the principles of Classicism, which called for full restoration
of mutilated sculptures. Actually, the two statues are
believed to portray the same individual, being honoured respectively by the
towns of Nuceria and Herculaneum.

VII.16 Herculaneum. 1782. Two statues
of Nonius Balbus, now in Naples Museum.

This
drawing, from St Non, shows the elder/father statue with a bearded head.

According
to the information board in Palazzo Reale in 2015, this was inspired by the
most famous equestrian statue of antiquity, the Marcus Aurelius in Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome, a purely graphical restoration giving
a different interpretation from Canart’s.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J78f0441

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, this statue is often thought of as being from the so-called
Basilica but in fact was from outside the theatre.

VII.16
Herculaneum. 1968. Statue of the elder M. Nonius Balbus, now in the Naples
Museum.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J68f0839

According
to Deiss, “On their handsome marble horses, the Proconsul and his son are
dressed identically in thigh-long tunics, soft riding shoes, breastplates,
swords in scabbards, cloaks thrown over the left shoulders and left arms.

The
left hands hold the reins. On the third finger of each left hand is a large
signet ring.

The
right hands are raised aloft in gestures of imperial command. The Proconsul’s
hairline is receding.

The
son’s abundant hair is cut short and combed forward in the Roman fashion.

The
Proconsul’s face conveys all the haughty authority of a high Roman official who
is an overseas administrator.

The
son’s face conveys uncertainty, distaste for an assumed role, and resignation.

The
Proconsul’s tight lips are curt with self-assurance and executive drive.

The
son frowns, and the full lips almost tremble with petulance.

If
the sculpture has told the truth, here indeed was a son in severe conflict with
the father or other members of the family.”

See
Deiss, J.J. (1968). Herculaneum, a city
returns to the sun. UK, The History Book Club, (p.143-4).

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, these statues are often thought of as being from the
so-called Basilica but in fact were from outside the theatre.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J78f0437

According
to Kraus, “The head of Balbus [the
younger]is a modern copy made by the sculptor Angelo Brunelli
(1740-1806) after the original was destroyed in 1799 by a cannonball fired by
the revolutionaries attacking the royal villa and museum in Portici.”

See Kraus T. and von Matt L., 1975. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Living cities of the dead. New
York: Abrams, (p.125).

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, Marcus Nonius Balbus was one of the leading citizens and
benefactors of Herculaneum.

He
became a praetor in Rome, and the governor (proconsul) of Crete and Cyrene.

In
the Basilica Noniana, his portrait in the toga of a citizen, is accompanied by
that of his father, with the same name, his mother Viciria, probably his wife
Volasennia, and possibly his daughters.

The
impression of his face was left in the tufa at the Theatre, from his statue in
heroic nudity.

We
see statues of him together with his father, both on horseback from a public
square outside the Theatre, with an inscription recalling his benefactions to
the town.

Finally,
his statue can be found on the terrace by the Suburban Baths, in the armour of
a Roman commander.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J68f1413

According
to Wallace-Hadrill, this statue is often thought of as being from the so-called
Basilica but in fact was from outside the theatre.

VII,
Herculaneum, 1975. Marble statue of Viciria, mother of Nonius Balbus, found in
the Basilica.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J75f0574

VII.16
Herculaneum, 1975. Marble statue of Viciria, mother of Nonius Balbus, found in
the Basilica.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

VII,
Herculaneum, 1975. Perhaps one of the daughters of Nonius Balbus, found in the
Basilica.

Photo
by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source:
The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland
Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence
and use details.

J75f0573

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6248.

VII,
Herculaneum, 1976. Perhaps one of the daughters of Nonius Balbus, found in the
Basilica.

Now
in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 6244.

Old
photo titled “From the statue found in the theatre of Herculaneum. Now in the
Museo Nazionale Naples. The Sister of M. Nonius Balbus”,